Standards: Connecticut has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as the Connecticut State Standards (CSS).

BIG IDEAS

• Writers can use events from their own lives to get ideas for stories.
• Writers can replicate an author's style in their own books.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS - Students will keep considering . . .

• How can writers study published authors to learn ways to craft small moment stories?
• How do writers write and revise small moment stories?
• How can writers study a published author to try out different craft moves to revise with intent?
• How can writers study their own mentor authors to learn and try out new craft moves?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES -> in Progress

BIG IDEAS

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS - Students will keep considering . . .

• How do information writers use what they know about organization, details, and editing to write many information books?
• How do information writers make their books more organized and detailed?
• How do information writers learn from a mentor author to make their information books longer, teach more information and sound more interesting?
• How do information writers revise a book by studying and researching the topic?
• How do information writers research and use photographs and other artifacts to teach more?
• How do information writers use and improve editing skills to get work ready for a celebration?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES -> in Progress

BIG IDEAS

• Writers draw on everything they have learned about good narrative writing and will focus on storytelling in small moment scenes rather than summarizing.
• Writers use details to build tension, and on stretch out the most gripping parts of their stories.
• Writers will use revision to bring out greater meaning and tension in their stories and to storytell rather than summarize.
• Writers create characters in stories who want something and encounter trouble en route in order to teach lessons.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS - Students will keep considering . . .

• How do writers use what they know about writing powerful personal narratives to improve their fiction writing?
• How do writers use what they know about writing with details and suspense to write lots of interesting fictional stories?
• How do writers revise their fictional stories?
• How can writers make big changes to their stories, especially stretching out the most important parts?
• How do writers set goals for their writing and revise so they write the best possible fiction stories?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES -> in Progress

BIG IDEAS

• Poetry is inspired by objects and feelings transferred into words.
• Line breaks and word placement are essential in poetry.
• Poetry can take many forms.
• Poets revise their poems for careful language, edit and celebrate their poems in many ways.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS - Students will keep considering . . .

• How do writers find topics and write poems in fresh and unusual ways?
• How do writers see with poets’ eyes to write and revise poems?
• How do writers experiment with language and sound to show the meaning of a poem?
• How to writers study and explore different poetic structures?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES -> in Progress

BIG IDEAS

• Scientific writers study to understand the structure of science books as a model to recreate this genre of writing.
• Scientific writers understand that a scientist must ask and record a question, then design and finally conduct multiple trials to conduct an
• experiment.
• Scientific writers reflect and internalize how scientific procedures and writing processes so they can teach others and become real scientists.
• Scientific writers understand that precise writing procedures are important so their experiments can be replicated.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS - Students will keep considering . . .

• How do writers question, study, and experiment to learn and write about science?
• How do writers pose questions, conduct experiments, and write about their findings?
• How do writers use all they know about scientific writing to conduct and write about new experiments?
• How do writers apply their new knowledge about science topics to write information books?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to . . .

Sessions 1-6: Writers as Scientists Do

• study an experiment.
• write procedurally using the scientific process.
• learn from mentors and research.
• self-reflect and make plans.

Sessions 7-11: Writing to Teach Others About Our Discoveries

• transfer prior learning about writing well, while drafting precisely.
• revise using mentor texts and expert materials.
• writing to develop new ideas.
• editing for domain-specific language.

Sessions 12-16: Writing About Forces and Motion in Information Book

• plan and draft.
• continue mentor text study.
• revising for clarity with the reader in mind skillfully using text features, comparisons, and integrating scientific information in ways that connect to the topic.
• expand their understanding of structure in information books.

BIG IDEAS

• Writers generate ideas that can be supported with examples from the text.
• Writers organize their ideas so they are clear and easy to follow.
• Writers write to persuade their readers about something.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS - Students will keep considering . . .

• How do writers write letters that share opinions about books?
• How do writers make their letters longer and more convincing?
• How do writers write nominations for books they love to convince readers?

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to . . .

Sessions 1-6: Letter Writing: A Glorious Tradition

• form opinions about books and write about them.
• plan through oral rehearsal.
• elaborate by retelling important parts and angling their writing.
• self-assess using the checklist.

Session 7-11: Raising the Level of Our Letter Writing

• plan to make writing stronger.
• reread to elaborate.
• support opinions with multiple pieces of evidence.
• consider author's choices.
• publish.

Session 12-19: Writing Nominations and Awarding Favorite Books

• make choices about evidence to include in their writing.
• use quotes to support their opinions.
• compare characters, and books.
• deepen their understanding of an opinion piece by including introductions and conclusions.
• use tools to set goals.